Rifle population set to pass Glenwood

Rifle's economy and population are growing. 

Sales tax revenues are up 19 percent in January 2007 over January 2006.

Rifle City Councilor Jeff Johnson speculated at a recent council meeting that Rifle would surpass Glenwood Springs in population by this summer.

Presently, Rifle's population is estimated at around 8,000, and Glenwood's hovers around 8,500.

Commercial news . . .
A number of new jobs could become available in Rifle if all goes well with a proposed master plan for development of a new business center south of the Garfield County Airport.

The Rifle Airpark Master Plan calls for annexation and development of around 700 acres by Airport Land Partners, LLC.

Industrial businesses could include manufacturing plants, trucking for the oil and gas industry and airport-related companies such as Federal Express.

Residential news . . .
Sixty duplex units will begin entering Rifle's tight housing market over next few years.  Unit prices start at $250,000.  

"Anything that resembles affordable housing in the area is selling pretty well," said Robert Rensberry, a broker with Rifle Realty Company in Rifle. "The other projects that came online last spring have sold out and (those) haven't completed construction yet."

Willow Ranch at Rifle is located in north Rifle, with floor plans between 1,360 and 1,450 square feet.

Growth pressures . .
Although the economy is booming, the rapid changes in Rifle are not only straining the city's infrastructure -- its straining the social fabric. 

A recent fight between female students at the local high school has the school district and community members worried about growing rifts between different segments of the community - Anglo vs. Latino,  newcomers vs. old-timers, middle class vs. rich or poor, old vs. young - as the economy and community rapidly changes.

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Basalt ponders possible futures

The Town of Basalt Master Planning process has revealed that population could soar some 142 percent over the next several years under even the stingiest of five land-use scenarios under consideration by town officials.

Basalt's town leaders and residents are examining five scenarios as part of the master plan update. Whatever scenario is selected likely will guide town development patterns for five to 10 years and influence it for a longer period.

Visit the town's website to view the five scenarios.

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Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection

New Castle became the second town in Garfield County to sign on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Glenwood Springs signed the agreement in December and recently created a new energy efficiency commission  as a follow-up to its decision.

The nonbinding agreement lets communities tailor their own action plan to increase energy efficiency and address global warming.

New Castle will come up with an action plan with the help of the New Castle Environmental Advisory Board, a group of residents who support the mayors agreement.

Cool Communities group, a citizens group, is urging local communities to sign on to the mayors agreement.

In addition to Glenwood Springs, Aspen, Basalt, Telluride, Gunnison and Boulder have also signed the mayors agreement, along with 330 cities nationwide.

Carbondale has yet to sign the agreement, but it has already created and funded an energy plan that focuses on efficient and renewable energy and voters also approved bonds last November to create two large solar systems in town.

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A two-year-old proposal to building a housing development just outside Glenwood Springs is back before Garfield County.

The Reserve at Elk Meadows development would include 189 homes that would be built on the Bershenyi and Martino ranches. The Bershenyi Ranch consists of about 1,500 acres, and the Martino ranch totals around 100 acres.

Developers are asking the county to amend the county's comprehensive plan from low-density to medium- and high-density residential for the development site. They are proposing lots ranging from 12,600 square feet to more than 30,000 square feet in size, with house sizes ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 square feet.

They hope to dedicate a 960-acre "mountain park" in the project to a public or private entity that would open it for public, nonmotorized use.

Garfield County code requires projects seeking increased density to provide an affordable housing component amounting to 10 percent of the total units.

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The Vail Town Council may want to create enough deed-restricted employee housing for 30 percent of the work force, but its not going to be easy.  Builders have been vocal in recent months in their opposition to a proposal to make them build lots of affordable homes in Vail.

The most recent proposal would require 10 percent of homes be affordable housing in specific areas like Vail Village, West Lionshead and the West Vail shopping center. Homes in residential neighborhoods would have to compensate for 100 percent of the jobs they create.

Also, builders would have to compensate for 20 percent of the jobs they create in the shops they build. Vail's planning commission will now work on recommendations for the housing rules.

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Although there is still time for other candidates to enter the race, the current candidates for Mayor of Aspen began their first debate in the media by sparring over the city's affordable housing program. Candidate, and former City Council member, Tim Semaru recently suggested increasing the appreciation cap to 5% annually on deed restricted units. The current cap is 3 percent or the national rate of inflation, whichever is lower.

Candidates Mick Ireland and Torre both discarded the suggestion. Ireland, who lives in deed-restricted affordable housing, said Semaru's suggestion would be a negation of the deal between the city and citizens more than 20 years ago. Torre commented that he didn't think the change was necessary since people "who are in employee housing aren't using it to make money, just to get in the door."

Tom McCabe, director of the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority, said he is worried that the Semaru's plan would hurt local government's ability to prevent the conversion of some 224 housing units into free-market condominiums in the future.

Learn more about Aspen's Housing Program . . .

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Summit County adds transfer fee to affordable housing funding mix

A voluntary .33 percent fee affordable housing transfer fee could provide funding for the program far beyond the 10-year lifespan of the .125 percent sales tax bump and graduated development impact fee approved by Summit County voters last November.

Summit County has already approved the fee, while Frisco and Breckenridge are considering the adoption of such a fee.

The voluntary fee is meant to provide an alternative for builders. Instead of paying the graduated impact fee, they could choose put a deed restriction on the property that would stipulate the ongoing transfer fee. The first transaction would be exempt, but every subsequent sale of the property would be subject to the fee.

County planners have done some early number crunching to look at how such a voluntary fee could affect revenue for the housing authority. The sales tax boost and the impact fees together are projected to generate about $32 million during the next 10 years.

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Combine a diverse student body, two charter schools, a well known private high school, a number of private elementary schools, and a statewide open enrollment policy and you get a number of challenging educational and community issues in Carbondale. 

A couple of weeks ago, Town Trustees heard various opinions about a proposed state bill to create more accountability for state approved charter schools, which brought up issues of segregation in Carbondale's elementary schools, and now parent concerns about enrollment and academic standards at Roaring Fork High School has reached public attention again.

Perhaps, as an editorial in the Valley Journal suggests, it is time for a meeting of the minds on Carbondale's schools.

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The Aspen Skiing Co. and Intrawest Corp. completed the sale of the Base Village property to Pat Smith and Related WestPac for $165 million.

The Town of Snowmass Village has already approved and construction has already begun on the 1 million square feet of residential and commercial space in the project. The whole project is scheduled to for completion in 2011.

Related WestPac is a joint venture partnership between Smith's WestPac Investments LLC, and the Related Companies. WestPac is a privately held development company that operates in five Western states. Smith's company previously acquired majority interests in the Snowmass Center and parts of the Snowmass Mall, known as West Village.

Related Companies, one of the biggest private development firms in the country, also became a partner in the Snowmass Center and the mall in separate transactions.

This partnership places about 80 acres of prime development land and essentially all the commercial property in Snowmass Village in the hands of one company.

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New Manager settles into Snowmass Village

Russell Forrest takes the reins as the town manager for Snowmass Village. He was selected from among 88 town manager candidates by Town Council in late January.

Most recently, Forrest was the director of the Town of Vail's Community Devel­opment Department, a position that he had held for eight years.

Welcome Russell!

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For more information visit the New Century Transportation Foundation webiste or call Cathy Tuttle at 970-274-1875 or Larry Heinrichs at 970-274-0132.

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Pitkin County is hosting a presentation on the proposed "Self Sufficiency Standard (SB -7-235)"  by the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute and Women's Foundation of Colorado on Monday, May 7th from 9:30-11:30am at the Pitkin County Health and Human Services Building.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard calculates how much income a family needs to meet all of its basic needs including housing, transportation, health care, child care and food.

Unlike the federal poverty level, a one size fits all national measure based largely on the cost of food, the Self-Sufficiency Standard is a carefully researched tool that accounts for the costs of living in each of Colorado's 64 counties and varies by family size and composition.

If you are interested in attending, please contact wfco@wfco.org to RSVP or call 800-847-6036 by May 3.